What many people don’t realize about this issue, is that the Church isn’t exactly owned by any of the religions there. Nor is it exactly without management, to explain the bizarre arrangement between the Christian Churches over who has responsibility over what in the Holy Sepulcher would literally take an immensely long post.
It has literally been both the collective responsibility of six Christian church denominations which are not in communion with each other, and at the same time not a unified responsibility. This is because each has its own faction which vehemently protects its own fief from encroachment by the other factions. There have been literal battles inside the church between clergy over who has the right to remove a single ladder from one place.
In fact, neither one of them can open the doors to the Church every day. That responsibility has for well over 100 years fallen to a prominent Muslim family that opens the Church every day.
One can find no where else the biggest visible sign of Christian scandal than the factionalism that exists over the site of the crucifixion and burial of Christ.
It’s not a “Christian scandal” that a couple guys from two muslim families open the church daily.
That’s a tradition dating from 1192, first imposed by Saladin.
The “bizarre arrangement between churches” was not actually decided between the churches. The status quo was imposed by muslim governance of the Ottoman empire.
I spent a week there attending services.
It is nothing like you describe.
The small chapel shared by the smaller denominations has rare conflicts between monks, they have very little assigned space and jealously preserve what they have there.
I don’t even think that is such a scandal, it just means they treasure holy things.
When I hear people overhyping the conflict there, I really wonder what is motivating them.
Maybe people want to convince others not to go there, which would be a real shame I think.